


Shadowbun: Scars From the War

by JackFields



Series: T3 Shadowbun stories [4]
Category: Shadowrun, Zootopia (2016)
Genre: Cannibalism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-13
Updated: 2016-10-13
Packaged: 2018-08-22 05:05:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,345
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8273978
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JackFields/pseuds/JackFields
Summary: Judy Nails thought that she had seen the last of Delta the day she shipped out from the Chai Shu incursion.  Turns out, she was wrong.





	

"Wut's dat one, with da spikes?" Finn asked, pointing to the stack of orange and gold fruit on the hawker's table. They were walking through a produce market, where a bustling trade in exotic fruits and vegetables was being carried out. Killing a bit of time while they waited for Nikko to finish a meeting with some sort of export agent. Probably a smuggler, she thought.

"Kiwano melon. You won't like it." Judy answered distractedly, her eyes flickering from face to face in the bustling crowd. She felt tense; something was giving her the creeps.

"OK." Finn lumbered along for a few more steps, before stopping and pointing at a different stack of produce. "Wut's dat one? Not da white one, da one with the meat lookin' bits?" He asked.

"Ackee. I think they're poisonous to Trolls." She checked her commlink again, waiting for any word from Nikko. What was taking him so long?

Finn made a disgusted face, and turned to the next vendor's stall. He pointed to a knobbly green bulb and asked "Dat one OK?" Judy glanced at it, and then nodded. "Jackfruit. It's fine."

"I'm gonna try one. You want a bit?" Finn pulled a few coins from his pocket, and gestured to the civet cat that ran the grocer's stall. The civet bobbed a quick bow, pocketed the money and picked up a huge fleshy fruit with knobbed green skin. He split it in two halves with a quick chop of his cleaver before handing it up to the huge fennec fox. Finn turned it back and forth in his huge paws, sniffing it, then taking an experimental bite.

"FWAGH! Dat's sour!" He spit out a mouthful of pink flesh, and whined “Carrots, why you not tell me it was like dat?"

Judy was about to snap at him for pestering her, but suddenly froze. A breeze coming down the alley had brought a strange scent; she realized that she had been able to smell traces of it all morning.

She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, and it was there again. Cardamom and cloves, the deeper notes of star anise, spices blending with a richer, savory smell. Her nose twitched, as memories uncoiled from recesses of her mind.

_Can't be. Not here. The Coalition wouldn't let them come here, no way in hell!_

Motioning Finn to follow her, she started to hurry through the crowds, following her nose as the tracked the scent.

\----

~Six years earlier, twenty kilometers from the Chai Shu border~

The helicopter's engine roared overhead as the mercenary squad rechecked their equipment, adjusted the straps of armored clothing, fastened and re-fastened ammunition pouches. Prongson, the squad leader pressed one hoof to her ear, concentrating on the pilot's words coming in through her headset. She nodded in silent acknowledgement of an order, and then turned to address her troops. 

"Listen up! LZ coming up in ninety seconds, it's going to be a hot drop. Delta wrecked a Muntjack village; we're going in to secure the location while the brass decides how they're going to officially respond." She moved from soldier to soldier, clapping each on the shoulder as she assigned positions.

"Machado, Jerons, and Boiko are first out. Newbie and Mister Pu are next, then Botica. Mustelson, you're out last, they're going to drop your flamethrower from the undercarriage before they dust off." The big wolverine Troll grinned and saluted crookedly with palm outwards.

In the middle of the lineup Judy tried to contain her nervous energy. This was it, no longer was she just another ganger from the Tri-Burrows, she was officially a soldier now! Ok, fine, a Probationary Trainee, in a mercenary company rather than the main ZooCAS line forces, but still!

She bounced from one foot to the other, grinning and remembering how her whole family had tried to discourage her from joining up. If only her mother could see her now--

" **NEWBIE!** " Prongson was looming over her, shouting down at the now terror-stricken bunny. "What did I just ask you?!?" What had she said? Judy was so excited that she had completely zoned out. Time to improvise...

"Ma'am! This private is to exit the transport at all speed, find a firing position, and support Corporal Machado in securing the landing zone!" She shouted back, while cracking off a textbook perfect salute.

"Nice try, what I said was 'Try not to get your fluffy little tail shot off'!" She gave Judy a solid hoof-strike on her helmet before moving on, leaving the bunny chagrined and slightly dazed. 

\----

A warning buzzer sounded throughout the helicopter's cabin. As the boarding ramp started to fold downwards, Judy could see the jungle canopy speeding by beneath them, glowing a fluorescent green in the noonday sun. The aircraft shuddered as a barrage of surface-to-ground rockets flew from its weapon pods; she heard a slow drumroll of explosions as the warheads detonated in the trees below. Coming in fast, the transport chopper descended in a wide arc, coming to a stop slightly above the ground in the wreckage of a drained rice paddy. Nearby there stood a small farming village, a few wooden cottages surrounding a larger hall.

"GO! GO! Get going!" Prongson screamed, and the first mercenaries scrambled forward, hopping to the ground and immediately moving forward, leaping behind the cover of demolished farm buildings. Machado with his light machine gun was in the middle, Jerons and Boiko with their rifles to his left and right. Each had their fingers on the trigger of their weapons, eyes scanning the edge of the village, watching for movement.

Judy leapt from the helicopter and hit the ground hard, landing in mud and falling to hands and knees in the sticky goo. Pu Hoat, the little Muntjack scout, landed next to her in a perfect rolling dive, missing the mud puddle and sprinting forward gracefully. Judy struggled to her feet and scrambled after him, as Prongson and Botica landed with wet splats right where she had been.

"Almost stomped you there Newbie, hurry it up!" Judy heard from behind her, she gritted her teeth and kept running, looking for somewhere that might offer a better line of sight across the village. There was a promising spot, the burned remains of a grain silo, one of the only stone structures in the hamlet. She ran to the side nearest her, reaching to her belt for the collapsible grappling hook stored there. Unhooking it and shaking the carbon fiber line free, she tossed it up and over her head, heard the clank as it found purchase on the broad flat roof. Now time for the hard part...

Judy slipped on a pair of fingerless climbing gloves, careful to avoid touching the nanotube-coated patches on the palms to anything but the cable. She took a double handed grip, testing her weight on it, before starting to climb up the side of the silo tower. As she climbed, the heavy rifle case tugged at her shoulders, adding its weight to the downward pull of helmet, backpack, and ammo pouches. She could hear the voices of her squad mates on the radio circuit, reporting locations and readiness. The whine of the helicopter was already fading away as it retreated back to safety in the ZooCAS airbase.

By the time she made it over the edge of the silo's roof, Judy was panting in exertion. She first secured the climbing gloves, then turned to the cable up and pulled it up, tying it off with a quick slip knot. Now if someone wanted to come up after her, they were going to have to climb up bare-handed.

'Or they could just start throwing grenades up here,' she mused grimly.

Sniping perch secured, Judy began to set up her weapon. She unlatched the heavy plastic case and pulled the long sniper rifle from its protective foam. In her role as scout sniper, Judy carried a powerful dart rifle instead of a conventional firearm; its light recoil was better suited to her small size.

Using powerful electromagnetic accelerators, it could launch an eight millimeter chemical munition at just below the speed of sound. She had a variety of these, from powerful synthetic neurotoxin, to a fast acting but non-lethal tranquilizer, to an area-dispersal tear gas round. It was quiet and accurate; the only drawback was a painfully slow rate of fire, as the capacitors readied for another discharge.

Checking the rifle and finding it ready to fire, she unfolded its bipod legs and lay prone behind it on the roof. Reaching up to her collar, she tabbed the radio and called in her location to Prongson.

"Hopps in position on the roof of the silo, no Delta visible."

_"Alright newbie, good job."_ Prongson replied. _"Stay up there and keep an eye out for trouble."_

\----

Judy pulled the rifle in to her shoulder and examined the tree line through the scope. On a heads-up display, the image was overlaid with an infrared rangefinder, thermographic scan data, local atmospheric conditions. She peered down the scope, slowly scanning from left to right, examining each potential hiding place through the magnified scope. Over the radio circuit she heard the squad members report as they searched the village, looking for Delta soldiers or trapped Muntjack survivors. It was slowly becoming apparent that neither was here; save for the mercenaries, the village was deserted.

She had been on the roof for the better part of an hour before she realized that there was a strange scent wafting past her. From this height, she could smell the breeze coming across the jungle canopy, must be some kind of local cuisine. Whatever it was, it smelled good.

Shifting her position to scan another section of jungle, she considered this. If the Muntjack villagers were hiding out in the jungle, would they be cooking food while they waited for rescue? No, definitely not a smart move. It would be trivial for Delta to track them by the scent. So that must mean that Delta was doing the cooking. What were they cooking down there in the jungle, if she could smell it on the breeze this far away?

Keying the radio, she called Prongson to report.

"Ma'am, Hopps here, I think someone's out there in the jungle. I smell something on the breeze, smells like cooking food."

Silence for a long breath, then a reply "Say again? You smell cooking?"

"Roger that, ma'am, been smelling it for a while, ten or fifteen minutes. Repeat, no visual contact, just the smell."

Pu Hoat's voice broke in to the radio channel, an angry jabbering in pidgin Muntjack. Judy tried to follow his words, something about the villagers, Delta had them in the jungle? Something called Siu Mei was in the jungle?

"Right." Prongson's voice was flat. "Get down here Newbie, and the rest of you too, we're moving out in ten minutes."

\----

The squad marched under the afternoon sun in single file, looking for the trail blazes that Pu Hoat left for them as he scouted ahead. Under normal circumstances Judy would have been out there with him, helping to clear the path that the bigger mercenary soldiers would take, but instead Prongson had ordered her to Machado's side. 

After a few kilometers, the big bear had reached down and grasped Judy by her collar, she stifled a gasp as she was hoisted into the air and perched on Machado's right shoulder, across from the ammunition belt that snaked out from the big backpack.

"Come on Jes..." she hissed, mortified to be carried like a child. Machado had grinned and insisted, telling her to perch on his shoulder and watch the jungle from the higher vantage point. Judy had reluctantly agreed to this plan, and had found a few likely handholds as she was carried along.

"I should be up there with Pu Hoat." Judy grumbled to him as she changed position on his shoulder, switching her gaze from the left side of the trail to the right. "I'm a pretty good tracker, you know?"

"Mmm hmm." Machado rumbled in reply, stepping carefully over a big stone in the path.

"No joking, one time I followed this pig for two hours through the Canal Street fish markets, close enough to touch him, and he never saw me once!"

"Why would you bother doing that?" he had asked, bafflement in his tone.

"Just to see if I could get away with it! I'm ready for this job, I've always wanted to be a soldier, and I just need a chance to show Prongson what I can do!"

"Prolly going to get that chance today." He had replied in a grim tone.

"Yeah? You think we're gonna see some action?" She had demanded, excitement creeping into her voice. She couldn't wait for a chance to prove herself, to prove that she could be more than some gang banger. She was going to be a serious operator one day!

Machado shrugged, shifting the thick straps of the ammunition backpack to another part of his shoulders. "Could be. Could be that we find an empty camp, ‘cause Delta's already back across the border. Could be that we're walking into an ambush." He turned his head to face her, looking hard into her eyes, before turning back to the jungle trail.

"Don't try to be a hero, Newbie. They're primitive, but they're not stupid. And they don't take prisoners, at least not ones that come back alive." His jaw tightened in a suppressed growl, and he continued, his voice tightly controlled.

"These primitives have been killing each other off for hundreds of years. Then some corporate trade mission fuckhead gets slaughtered, and what happens? We get to go make another country safe for ZooCAS capitalism, that's what." He made this last statement with a snarl, claws tightening on the machine gun's grips.

"Okay Comrade Barks, enough with the Commie bullshit for one day." Prongson was beside them, glaring daggers. "Newbie, quit distracting Machado, we're not paying you to chatter." She gave Judy another rap on the helmet before moving back to her place at the back of the column.

"Yes ma'am." Judy agreed, embarrassed to have been caught shirking her duties. How had the big elk woman managed to sneak up like on them like that? 

\----

"Hopps here, I'm in position, can see about six-zero Delta soldiers. Repeat, six-zero Delta, no sign of Muntjack villagers." She let go of the radio switch and resumed her view through the rifle's scope. 

As they had marched deeper into the jungle, the little native guide had suddenly reappeared, indicating through gestures that their destination was just ahead. Prongson had reviewed her maps on a tablet computer, and then sketched out a battle plan for them. Pu Hoat indicated that the main body of the enemy was in a forest clearing, next to a small hill. The main force of soldiers would stay concealed in the jungle, while Judy and the guide moved downwind and climbed a nearby hill. If they found hostiles, they were to report back and wait for further instructions.

Now it was just after twilight, and she was crouched behind a fallen tree, peering down into a jungle clearing that contained the ruins of a stone temple. She was no architect or botanist, but she thought it must have been there for hundreds of years. The jungle had run riot through here, climbing up walls, toppling arches and caving in roofs, leaving nothing but a half buried mound of rubble. She zoomed the scope in and got her first good look at Delta.

They weren't much to look at, the truth be told. About a meter tall, with thick red fur and bushy tails; if it wasn't for the short but powerful jaws and the long claws she might have thought they were red foxes. The males were clad in worn leggings; some had bits of cloth tied around arms, neck, or chest. These were spread among the fallen stones and broken courtyard; some were sleeping near small campfires, others were play-fighting in the open spaces. A few sat together and maintained their weapons; they were armed with bows or javelins, a few held ancient muzzle-loading rifles.

She had also noted a few females, carrying baskets and earthenware vessels from warrior to warrior, giving what looked like some kind of stew to each. It might have been her imagination, but she thought that she could detect the same spices as before. She took a deep whiff, and her stomach grumbled softly. Smelled pretty good, to be honest.

"Siu Mei." A voice in her left ear made her jump in fright, she dropped the rifle and whirled to find Pu Hoat beside her, he had slipped up completely unnoticed while she watched the village.

"What? You said that before, what does it mean?"

He gestured down to the clearing and repeated himself. "Siu Mei. Dhole come down from mountains, come to village, take Muntjack to temple for Siu Mei." He made a gesture, his left hoof pantomiming a bowl, right hoof moving from bowl to mouth and back again. He turned his gaze from Judy's horrified stare, looked down at the feasting predators again.

"That's what the food is? They kidnap the villagers and turn them into barbeque?" She felt sickened; the thought of mammals preying on their neighbors like this was monstrous.

Pu Hoat shrugged, not looking at her as he spoke. "Muntjack live here since forever. Dhole come for Siu Mei, other Muntjack come back to village. Always other Muntjack somewhere."

 _"Newbie, how far are you from the central structure down there?"_ Her radio crackled in her ear, startling her back to the present.

"Two hundred twenty meters ma'am, should I get closer?"

Prongson's voice had an angry edge to it as she replied. _"Negative. Get away from there, at least three hundred meters from the center, and find some good hard cover. ZooCAS command finally decided what to do about this little incursion, and they're going to take the direct approach. Get moving, on the double!"_

Judy snatched up her weapon and it's case, and followed Pu, who had bounded away into the thicket. Keeping behind trees and other cover, he lead her further up the hill, finally stopping behind a rocky outcrop near the summit. Judy hunkered down beside him, watching him curl up into a tight fetal ball, hooves clapped tightly to his ears. What exactly was going to happen? She peered around the corner of the stones, looking at the temple down in the valley.

In the distance, she could hear the whine of approaching aircraft. The Dhole had heard them too; the warriors scrabbled for weapons, turned to face the new threat, while the women ran for cover in the ruined buildings. Suddenly, a pair of Wildcat attack jets roared overhead and sped away, twin bursts of napalm exploding in their wake. The force of the blast knocked Judy onto her back, from her new perspective she could see the trees above her glowing with a flickering orange light.

Pushing herself up to hands and knees, she peered around the edges of the rock again. Where there was once a clearing in the jungle, there was now a sea of liquid fire, charred stones and withered burning trees protruding from it here and there. Looking closer, she could see burning bodies, wreathed in fire, struggling to escape the carnage. Even worse, she could hear their shrieks of terror and pain, carrying with surprising clarity on the hot winds. But eventually, those few who moved collapsed and disappeared in the inferno, the noises dying down to the slow crackle of the flames.

 _"Judy, report. You get clear of that?"_ It was Botica, the medic; she could hear the concern in his voice. Judy realized that she had been staring without blinking, hardly even breathing.

She grasped blindly for the radio switch, finding it with nerveless fingers. "H-H-opps here. We're fine. Just fine..." She trailed off, trying not to let her voice break, fighting the nausea that was creeping up the back of her throat.

 _"Hopps? This is Prongson. I know that was hard to watch, but we need you to pull it together."_ The squad leader almost sounded sympathetic. _"Command has given more instructions, we're going down there to mop up any resistance, look for survivors, that kind of shit. Take a drink of water, catch your breath, and then get down here, OK?"_

Judy took a deep shuddering breath, letting it out slowly before responding. "Yes ma'am, Hopps on route to you. Be there ASAP."

She carefully put her rifle back into it's case, and slung it over her shoulder. Pu Hoat was already moving down the hillside, nimbly skipping from rock to rock, and humming a little song as he went. After a long look down into the fiery crater, she started after him.

\----

~Present day, Zootopia slums~

Judy raced around the corner of an alley and saw them right in front of her, ten or twelve Deltas lounging on the stoop of a tenement apartment. Wearing greasy camouflage fatigues, they slouched against the wall or sprawled on the steps, presenting an unsubtle threat to the rest of the neighborhood. No one, not even the most heavily laden porter, was walking on this side of the road. The smallest of the red canids was busily working at a butane camp stove sitting on an overturned packing case. Just now he was stirring a battered metal pot, which bubbled away on the stovetop. That was where the smells that lead her had come from, the same blend of exotic spices over a meaty fragrance. She grimaced as the chef pulled out the long spoon, licked it clean, then plopped it back and continued stirring. 

She heard Finn's heavy tread as he came up behind her, and one of the Dholes noticed them. He snarled out a warning, and the whole pack came to alert readiness; teeth bared and paws reaching into clothing for the weapons hidden there. Judy ran down her options; she had her new Ares Predator concealed underneath her armored jacket; that would do for at least four of the bastards, but the rest of the pack would close the distance too rapidly for her to reload. She had a stiletto tucked into the lining of the coat. Finn had her back, and between combat spells and his Troll strength, he would be a potent enough threat to keep them from mobbing her and pulling her down. Unless they had another dozen friends inside the building...

For a long second, she and the pack stared each other down, when suddenly the tenement door crashed open. An even larger Dhole swaggered out, barking a command, and the response was instantaneous. The whole pack lost interest in Judy or Finn; they turned as one to face the building, and saluted crisply. A figure had appeared in the doorway. No, two mammals were there. She was relieved to see that one was Nikko, the collar of his shirt pulled open and his muzzle shiny with perspiration. The second figure was dressed in a neatly tailored suit, his muzzle was grizzled with age, and he wore a small pair of spectacles. In the light of the street, she could see that his fur on the left side of his face was patchy; an irregular pattern of burn scars grew there.

Nikko waved to Judy and asked "You're a little early, aren't you?" His tone was clipped, and his long ears were pressed back against the back of his head, he was trying not to show how nervous he actually was. Must have been some difficult negotiations.

She waved back and started to slowly walk towards the stoop. Finn followed a few steps behind, unwilling to leave her but not happy about moving closer into that ring of born killers. "I think we're here right on time, don't you?" she asked. All eyes were on her as she drew close, and wrapped one arm around Nikko's shoulder in a protective gesture. "Why don't you introduce me to your new friends?"

Nikko forced a pleasant smile and said "Judy, this is Eram Karau; he runs an export cooperative from the former Chai Shu principality. As of a few minutes ago, we have a contract to provide his new Zootopia operation with security services." The older Dhole made a slight bow in recognition of this introduction, and then made an open handed gesture to the huge Dhole. "Sergeant Kutta."

Kutta stared hard at Judy, sizing her up before giving a dismissive nod. She examined him in turn; he was tall and powerfully built, but she didn't see any signs of a meta-mammal lineage. Maybe he was just that big naturally? He was wearing a black uniform, sergeant's stripes embroidered in blood red thread over his impressive biceps. She noticed the telltale scars of dermal armor plating along his wrists, and his right iris was the perfect icy blue of a Fiochi-Savage cybernetic replacement. No weapons were visible, but she was willing to bet her share of their next mission's pay that he had implants.

She turned to the bubbling pot, took a theatrical sniff. "Now that's a smell you don't forget in a hurry. Siu Mei, right?" Nikko tensed, but Eram Karau grinned a toothy smile at her. Sergeant Kutta growled a word in the ear of the little Dhole, who jumped to turn down the heat of the burner, and reached into the packing case for a paper bowl and chopsticks. He served up a double ladle of the stew and respectfully offered it to his chieftain. Karau took his time, picking over the meaty dish before selecting a small morsel and popping it into his mouth. He smacked his lips in a theatrical gesture of his own before replying.

"A little bit of Chai Shu, in our new Zootopian home. If it makes you feel any better, he was a very unpleasant person."

**Author's Note:**

> Finally, I had a chance to write a bit of action sequence material! I wish that I had more time to go into the rest of the squad, but a one week deadline goes faster than you would think.
> 
> On to the Shadowrun notes: UCAS in the game stands for United Canadian and American States, it's the remnants of the US north of the Mason-Dixon line and east of the Rockies. I had already referred to UCAS in Shadowbun: A Night on the Tiles, but I wanted to Zoot it up, so I made the change to Zootopian Coalition of Allied States.
> 
> They're carrying out a police action to protect the Muntjack villagers from the Dhole tribes, who have started to cross the borders of their homeland Chai Shu in search of meat. It's sort of a thing that they do from time to time until the local power structure gets sick of their antics and thins their numbers out.
> 
> Judy is in a "Security Contractor" detachment, possibly led by Captain Clawhauser? It was an exciting six years.
> 
> Muntjack is another name for a Barking Deer, and the Dhole are the same as the ones from the Jungle Books. They are both native to the Indian subcontinent, so I thought it would be a bit more canon that way.


End file.
